ScienceDaily: Strange Science News

---

• Dead men punching
• In an urban environment, not all vultures are created equal
• Cats retain multiple functional bitter taste receptors
• Dive of the RoboBee
• This fish out of water cools down fast
• Astronomers catch a black hole shredding a star to pieces
• Cosmic 'Death Star' is destroying a planet
• Biologists discover bacteria communicate like neurons in the brain
• Scientists predict cool new phase of superionic ice
• 76-million-year-old extinct species of pig-snouted turtle unearthed in Utah
• Cancer-causing parasite may accelerate wound healing
• New research paves the way to begin developing a computer you can control with your mind
• Final kiss of two stars heading for catastrophe
• Tiny dancers: Can ballet bugs help us build better robots?
• Shrimp may grow faster, bigger, healthier and tastier on sea urchin droppings diet

Dead men punching Posted: 21 Oct 2015 03:51 PM PDT Biologists used cadaver arms to punch and slap padded dumbbells in experiments supporting a hotly debated theory that our hands evolved not only for manual dexterity, but also so males could fistfight over females.

In an urban environment, not all vultures are created equal Posted: 21 Oct 2015 03:51 PM PDT Not being picky about your food means you can live just about anywhere, and some vultures are good at adapting to landscape fragmentation caused by humans, but new research shows that different vulture species use city environments in different ways.

Cats retain multiple functional bitter taste receptors Posted: 21 Oct 2015 11:46 AM PDT Cats have at least seven functional bitter taste receptors, according to a new study. Further, a comparison of cat to related species reveals little relationship between the number of bitter receptors and the extent to which a species consumes plants. Together, the findings question the common hypothesis that bitter taste developed primarily to protect animals from ingesting poisonous plant compounds.

Dive of the RoboBee Posted: 21 Oct 2015 11:02 AM PDT For the first time, researchers have demonstrated a flying, swimming, insect-like robot -- paving the way for future duel aerial aquatic robotic vehicles.

This fish out of water cools down fast Posted: 21 Oct 2015 10:59 AM PDT The tiny mangrove rivulus fish cools down by jumping out of water, according to a new study. The fish lives in tropical climates, and when the water is warm, will jump out to cool its body temperature down by air-chilling itself. This is an example of evaporative cooling. As temperatures warm in this area due to climate change, this could happen more often, say the researchers.

Astronomers catch a black hole shredding a star to pieces Posted: 21 Oct 2015 10:56 AM PDT A team of astronomers has observed a tidal disruption event in a galaxy that lies about 290 million light years from Earth. The event is the closest tidal disruption discovered in about a decade.

Cosmic 'Death Star' is destroying a planet Posted: 21 Oct 2015 10:56 AM PDT The Death Star of the movie Star Wars may be fictional, but planetary destruction is real. Astronomers announced today that they have spotted a large, rocky object disintegrating in its death spiral around a distant white dwarf star. The discovery also confirms a long-standing theory behind the source of white dwarf 'pollution' by metals.

Biologists discover bacteria communicate like neurons in the brain Posted: 21 Oct 2015 10:56 AM PDT Biologists have discovered that bacteria -- often viewed as lowly, solitary creatures -- are actually quite sophisticated in their social interactions and communicate with one another through similar electrical signaling mechanisms as neurons in the human brain.

Scientists predict cool new phase of superionic ice Posted: 21 Oct 2015 08:52 AM PDT Scientists have predicted a new phase of superionic ice, a special form of ice that could exist on Uranus and Neptune, in a theoretical study performed by a team of researchers.

76-million-year-old extinct species of pig-snouted turtle unearthed in Utah Posted: 21 Oct 2015 07:44 AM PDT In the 250-million-year evolutionary history of turtles, scientists have seen nothing like the pig nose of a new species of extinct turtle discovered in Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument.

Cancer-causing parasite may accelerate wound healing Posted: 21 Oct 2015 07:33 AM PDT A cancer-causing, parasitic worm could help patients recover from their wounds, say researchers. They report that the parasite could live for decades in the human body, and would have an incentive to keep its host healthy while chewing away at its cells.

New research paves the way to begin developing a computer you can control with your mind Posted: 21 Oct 2015 05:36 AM PDT A team of researchers has been able to predict participants' movements just by analyzing their brain activity. This study is the first human study to look at the neural signals of planned actions that are freely chosen by the participant and could be the first step in the development of brain-computer interfaces.

Final kiss of two stars heading for catastrophe Posted: 21 Oct 2015 05:31 AM PDT Astronomers have found the hottest and most massive double star with components so close that they touch each other. The two stars in the extreme system VFTS 352 could be heading for a dramatic end, during which the two stars either coalesce to create a single giant star, or form a binary black hole.

Tiny dancers: Can ballet bugs help us build better robots? Posted: 20 Oct 2015 11:53 AM PDT High-speed video breaks down the incredible leaping ability of basement-dwelling spider crickets and points the way toward development of robotic long jumpers.

Shrimp may grow faster, bigger, healthier and tastier on sea urchin droppings diet Posted: 19 Oct 2015 10:10 AM PDT New research shows how one species can fully support the development of another species in a sustainable system. Using sea urchins and shrimp as models, scientists discovered that one species could feed another from its waste, without needing to use traditional food at all.

You are subscribed to email updates from Strange & Offbeat News -- ScienceDaily. To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now.	Email delivery powered by Google
Google Inc., 1600 Amphitheatre Parkway, Mountain View, CA 94043, United States